Popularise Sanskrit among children: Yeddyurappa
Sanskrit, one of the world’s oldest languages, needs simple methods of learning so as to make it popular among children, said Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa, inaugurating the Sanskrit Sammelana and book fair at the National College Grounds on Friday.
The chief minister said Sanskrit represented the deep-rooted wisdom and knowledge of Indian culture. The Karnataka government supported the language for the last two years and promoted Sanskrit in the majority of universities, he said.
“If we lose this language, we will lose our great culture,” said Yeddyurappa, claiming that nearly 20,000 children were today studying Sanskrit in Karnataka.
He said the State government would grant Rs one crore for the study of Nyaya, Darshana and Rajadharma at Gulbarga University. He said there were plans to establish a Sanskrit University.
Besides, a Sanskrit Research and Development Institute at Melkote and Mandya would also be developed. He urged Sanskrit schools to adopt simple learning strategies to popularise the language. He said the Mela was the first step of the government towards making Sanskrit popular.
Speaking on the occasion, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal said Sanskrit was the second language in his State after Hindi.
He referred Kautilya’s Arthashastra as the “best book” on economics, and urged people to teach Sanskrit along with Hindi or regional languages from childhood to help this language prosper and help children imbibe good values.
Rajya Sabha member Rama Jois, former Chief Election Commissioner N Gopalaswami, the 77th Kannada Sahitya Sammelan President G Venkatasubbaiah, and a number of eminent Sanskrit scholars were present.
Over 6,000 delegates from various parts of the country and abroad are participating in the conference.
Lajja in Sanskrit
The controversial novel “Lajja” in Bengali, that led to the exile of Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen will be translated into Sanskrit, too.
Samskruta Bharati has taken the onus of translating the book under Saraswati Seva project, which has reproduced many books from regional languages in Sanskrit.
The organisation, dedicated to promote Sanskrit, has decided to translate at least 1,000 books in the next five years, including “Avarana” by S L Bhyrappa.
